


The first step was a cat

by Maitoparrakas



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-19
Updated: 2018-05-19
Packaged: 2019-05-08 23:29:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14704731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maitoparrakas/pseuds/Maitoparrakas
Summary: A wizard on the run, tormented by his past, has to decide between practicality and comfort. (Spoilers up to Episode 18: Whispers of War)





	The first step was a cat

**Author's Note:**

> This ficlet and the title was inspired by the recent Talks episode where Liam explained that the first step for Caleb was getting the cat, and only after that, he met Nott and eventually the rest of Mighty Nine.

It had been four days, eleven hours and thirty-six minutes since Caleb had regained his sense of self, disguised himself as one of the caretakers of the facility, killed one of the unsuspecting guards and retrieved his scarce belongings: the books and the diamond. He had also relieved the dead guard of their pendant and pouch of coins and ran off to the wilderness in the cover of the night before anyone had time to raise any alarms. After that, he had not come across any of the pursuing guards, mostly thanks to the magic of the pendant keeping him hidden from any location-revealing spells, but the more he lingered in one area the sooner they would catch on. That thought alone had kept him on his feet, scrambling through the woodland area he had no recollection of, avoiding any larger road or path he came across and when exhaustion caught him, falling down on whatever surface he had been travelling through.

Last night, he had had his first stroke of luck and found an abandoned, overgrown hovel with a caved-in roof but just enough cover for one, slightly scrawny and terribly dirty human. Caleb also managed to start a small fire inside, the first one during his time of freedom. It was comforting for a while: a small spark just enough to light the immediate area and spread warmth all over his aching body. He let the tension leave his tired limbs and began to doze off in his shabby shelter. Yet the sight of the swirling flames and smell of the burning wood made his stomach violently turn. The shadows formed images of bodies caught aflame, twisting in unbearable pain, and his ears rang with horrible screams, the sensation of it all being far too familiar. Caleb felt as if he was choking, his own lungs now burning like inside a furnace or his childhood home as the hovel was being enveloped in a deep charcoal smoke, impossible see anything but the clouds of ash. Frenzied with fear and panic, he got on his feet hastily from where he had been laying and began trampling the fire down, coughing and crying. As the fire quenched down to embers Caleb, gasping for breath, saw his surroundings were as they had been when he arrived: broken down shambling of a mess, but not on fire.

Still shaken from his haunting vision, Caleb tried to clear his head with the one skill he had: examing logically his current situation. He was on the run, and while he had means to evade his pursuers, staying long in any larger town was too big of a risk. He needed to disappear, certainly for years, possibly for the rest of his life. He had no survival skills, he knew only a few basic hunting traps, but he had been only a boy back then, the meager rations he had managed to gather before his escape were all but consumed. It was an unavoidable fact that he needed to gather supplies, especially since colder months were ahead of him and he didn't plan dying freezing, that would be too ironic for a fire-attuned mage. Caleb looked more closely at the items he had acquired, namely the coin pouch. He emptied it on his lap and was astonished: eleven gold coins, 30 silver and 45 pieces of copper. This much was pocket money for the soldiers? With some budgeting, the amount would easily keep him alive and on the move for a reasonable amount of time, and it wasn't like he couldn't find a way to get some more when needed...

Caleb turned his attention to the rest of his belongings. The diamond, while worth a lifetime of work for someone like him, would also keep him protected. There were many nasty and dangerous creatures roaming around, and since he couldn't see himself travelling with a group he only had himself to rely on. The books, if it was a desperate situation, he could...no, he couldn't. Those were too important. He opened the one with a brown leather cover, his old spellbook from the time he'd been a schoolboy, and flipped through the few pages of neat and tidily written notes. _Alarm, Chromatic Orb, Comprehend Languages, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Disguise Self, Find Familiar, Friends,..._ He flipped back to the page that contained the _Find Familiar_ -spell. It had been one of the first spells Caleb had learnt during his training. He vaguely remembered being extremely nervous about making a mistake in the ritual and wasting the cost of the ingredients, even though looking back it was a really simple thing. _The spell consumes 10 gp worth of charcoal, incense, and herbs by fire in a brass brazier. You gain the service of a familiar, a spirit from another plane of existence that takes an animal form you choose._ The notes, still in order, even had marked down the number of times he had cast it: three times as a hawk, twice as an owl, once as a cat. He had been really particular about these sort of things back then. While summoning the birds had been a part of the formal training, the cat on the other hand had been a momentary lapse when he had been feeling anxious and homesick and had had a bunch of herbs and incense still left. The academy, however, did not approve of pets for any other reason than the study of magic and eventually, it had been found and dispelled in one of the regular checkups for undisciplined magical uses. He had not cast the ritual since.

But at this moment it seemed more tempting than ever before, yet he couldn't allow himself such a trifling waste of resources to a luxury like a pet. Caleb reasoned with himself that those ten gold were essential to his survival, but his argument quickly drowned under a craving for a company of another being. _Cats might be curious by nature, but at least they won't be asking questions..._ With that thought, Caleb succumbed to a quiet and somber rest, his hand still resting on the page of the ritual spell.

During the afternoon of the next day, five days, two hours, forty-five minutes since the escape, Caleb reached a town that was bit larger than your average village, and after casting disguise self to facially resemble more the unfortunate ward guard than himself, he made his way to do business. The local herbalist, a middle-aged woman with an etched frown on her face and two small kids running in her heels, provided him with the things he asked for without questions but also charged an extra gold for the lot. It stung yet the risk of being remembered for more than a passer-by was too great for Caleb to start haggling with the woman. However, it did not stop him from stealing the brazier he needed while the woman's attention was focused on the kids. The rest of the money was far too quickly spent on what second- or thirdhand supplies he could find.

As the night and a pouring rain fell over the town, Caleb snuck into a stable to hide from the storm and the local crown's guard. He had not enough coin left for a room at the inn, but he wanted at least a tiny amount of comfort before he had to leave the town behind. Setting the ingredients in the brazier, the coal on the bottom, incenses in the middle and herbs in a circle, he lit it up with small, controlled flame. Caleb began casting the ritual while averting his gaze from the fire, and after the hour was complete the form of the shorthaired, orange-brown tabby rested upon his arms. Frumpkin, even after all these years, seemed to be delighted being summoned again: the cat nuzzled its head on Caleb and purred loudly.

"Hey buddy, I've missed you", Caleb whispered while scratching Frumpkin behind the ears. Frumpkin responded by licking Caleb's fingers, causing a rare chuckle to escape from him. Caleb wrapped his arms gently around the cat and kept petting it until he fell into the most peaceful sleep he had had in eleven years, four months and two weeks. Frumpkin ceremoniously curled into a nest in Caleb's embrace, seemingly also going asleep yet claws at ready for any fool who'd disturb the weary wizard and his cat snoring in a bed of golden hay.


End file.
